Mike Mussina responded time after time. He struck out seven Minnesota Twins. He got the Twins to hit into an inning-ending double play in the third. His location was terrific all night.

The Moose responded to his start in Game 1 of the ALDS. Unfortunately, his teammates didn’t. Mussina got no run support, and the Yankees had plenty of chances, in a 2-0 loss last night in Game 1 of the ALDS.

“I’m not going to second-guess anything I did,” Mussina said. “I threw well tonight. I gave up seven hits in seven innings. Most nights I’m going to win that game.”

With Jon Lieber set to make his first postseason start tonight and the rest of the rotation a question mark, the Yankees might have wasted the best starting pitching performance they’ll get in this series. Moose was not enough.

“In the playoffs, you’re not going to get many 8-7 games,” Mussina said. “When you go up against somebody like [Johan] Santana, the way he’s pitching, I’m trying to hold them down as best I can. We couldn’t get the big hit.”

The Yankees couldn’t get a clutch hit if Game 1 depended on it . . . and it did. They had the leadoff hitter on in the second, fourth and fifth, and couldn’t push anything across.

“Obviously, it doesn’t feel good,” Derek Jeter said. “I thought we had good swings. I thought we swung the bats good. We hit the ball hard but it seemed we always hit it at someone.”